Signed, sealed, delivered

Street plans, specifications finalized; agreement with MnDOT signed

massive set of documents to the Spring Grove City Council on March 19. The drawings and specifications, numbering over 700 pages, describe this summer’s Main Street/Highway 44 rebuild.

"The (bidding) process is occurring as we speak."

Engineer Tim Hruska

City engineer Tim Hruska brought two massive documents to the Spring Grove City Council on March 19, marking the end of a long, contentious process.

Before the meeting ended, the council had approved the cooperative construction agreement for the Main Street rebuild with MnDOT along with resolutions incumbent with the contract terms.

Hruska also reported on bidding for the project. "The process is occurring as we speak," he told members. Bids will be opened on Friday, April 5.

The plans contain a certain degree of flexibility - up to a point.

Planting beds can still be shifted or removed. Hruska said that the council will be able to alter the placement of the openings in the sidewalk where trees and eventually shrubs will grow.

A prime area of concern is where vaults (basements) extend under the sidewalk. The beds will permit water to enter the subsoil, so those could result in problems for some landowners.

Under the direction of the council, Hruska said he can talk to contractors while the sidewalk areas are still open and make those changes.

Besides moving the beds up or down the street, there are various waterproofing options, he added.

Mayor Bruce Poole said one option for the sidewalk in front of the HIS Store building vault would be to pour the concrete and then place a planter on top of it.

A strip of sidewalk, also in the area in front of HIS Store, can (and will) be left in place, according to current plans. That's because the vault is said to lie below it.

Poole said the single section "is in good shape." The rest of the corridor is set to receive new sidewalks.

Hruska said a driveway at the same building (110 E. Main St.) could be changed from 25 to 32 feet wide. That alteration came at the request of the property owner. Members later voted to do just that.

An alley closure east of S. Division Ave. (next to HIS Store's parking lot) along with a suggested modification to the curb and gutter configuration at the southeast corner of Division/44 can't be changed.

"Either of those would require us to go back through the geometric layouts," Hruska reported.

"That would involve a lengthy process that would jeopardize the funding of this project. It would push us out into the next fiscal year."

The exact configuration of the planting beds could be debated until the new sidewalks are poured. Each is designed to hold one tree as well as other perennials.

Poole said that the plan includes 42 two-inch diameter trees and six 2-1/2 inch diameter trees. Those are included in the bond monies, along with soil to fill the planting beds.

The trees will go in this fall. Other plant materials can be added in 2014.

Hruska said that MnDOT's landscape partnership program consists of a grant that can pay up to $30,000 for perennials, but the city will need to supply the labor to plant and care for them.

Hruska reported that Hoisington Koegler Group (the firm that drew up the landscape plans) has selected one type of trees for downtown areas and another for residential zones.

Those included honey locust, three types of maples, hackberry and some crab apple varieties.

Councilmember Nancy Nelson objected to some of the varieties, stating that they won't survive in the urban setting.

Councilmember Lorilyn Dehning moved to have the project engineers submit a proposal to MnDOT "in a timely manner" for the landscape grant.

It passed by unanimous vote, as did motions to accept the contract with its resolutions and another to have Hruska work with the contractor to change the driveway width and inform them that other changes may be necessary in the location of planting beds in the area.

Hruska left the final plan drawings (210 pages long, including 93 pages on MnDOT's part of the project) and the final schematics. The second document is over 500 pages in length, he added.